


pills for cold, meal for hunger, me for you

by yehana (swelter)



Category: CLC (Band)
Genre: Airports, Alternate Universe - Bakery, F/F, the rest of clc wont let her live, tsundere seunghee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 07:36:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19291198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swelter/pseuds/yehana
Summary: seunghee likes her job at the airport bakery.it pays fairly well, she gets to pound her day-to-day annoyances and stress onto dough, and she gets to tease and dote on kwon eunbin, the gangly and lovable daughter of the bakery owner who comes by every so often after school ends on weekdays. the strategic location of the store, which just so happens to be near the arrival gates, is just a bonus.or so she tells herself.(or, the one in which seunghee gets pressured to ask elkie, yeeun's penpal, out on a date after almost a year of sitting on her feelings in true tsundere fashion.)





	pills for cold, meal for hunger, me for you

**Author's Note:**

> aaa my first gg fic !!! it's been a long time coming tbh. anyway stream ME(美), and stan clc if you don't already!

seunghee likes her job at the airport bakery. 

 

it pays fairly well, she gets to pound her day-to-day annoyances and stress onto dough, and she gets to tease and dote on kwon eunbin, the gangly and lovable daughter of the bakery owner who comes by every so often after school ends on weekdays. the strategic location of the store, which just so happens to be near the arrival gates, is just a bonus.

 

or so she tells herself. 

 

today’s another busy day -- the airport is bustling with crowds, filled with faces somewhat familiar to seunghee, and others, not at all. her job mostly keeps her preoccupied with baking and putting out fresh loaves of bread and quaintly-decorated pastries out on display.  but she’s a good enough multi-tasker, so keeping people-watching is something she rather likes to do while she’s on the clock. it’s fascinating, she thinks, seeing the constant stream of people, local and foreign, come and go. her favourite thing is seeing people reunite with their loved ones after a flight. the sight of a parent returning from their outstation jobs scooping up their child, or a couple exchanging kisses after periods of being apart makes her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

“you’re such a sap,  _ eonni _ ,” eunbin pelts her with raisins from the small box in her hand. the tip of her tongue juts out between her teeth as she giggles, leaning over at the counter.

 

seunghee looks over at her from re-stocking the blueberry muffins on display with a silencing glare. (it’s not meant to be malicious, of course. she could never be anything but affectionate towards the younger girl.) “yah, kwon eunbin. don’t you have schoolwork to do?”

 

“yes, but…” eunbin comes over to steal a warm muffin from the tray. _when did she get so tall?_ a disgruntled seunghee thinks, noting the few inches eunbin has over her. “it’s so much more fun listening to you wax poetry about the sentimentalities of airport hi’s and bye’s.” eunbin bites into the confectionery, grinning at seunghee. “besides, it’s a weekend.”

 

“which is exactly the best time for you to study,” seunghee smacks the girl on her shoulder, earning her a yelp in response. “also, stop stealing the pastries. yeeun and i worked hard on those.”

 

“all the more reason to enjoy them,” eunbin says through a full mouth of muffin, going back over to the safety of the other side of the counter. she starts busying herself with chortling at whatever it is that’s on her phone, letting seunghee get back to work.

 

seunghee shakes her head, continuing to arrange the strawberry tarts behind the case. eunbin’s smart-aleck comments are  _ not _ welcome -- not when they’re poking fun at her hopeless romanticism. even seungyeon knows her boundaries when it comes to this matter, and _she’s_ a real piece of work. 

 

seunghee sighs, stretching up from her bent position at the display case. she glances at the clock on the wall. _ lunch time _ . her stomach grumbles on cue, thinking of the fried rice she’d packed in her bag earlier this morning. yeeun, too, walks out of the kitchen with her apron in hand, obviously ready to take her leave. she immediately stalks toward seunghee, latching onto the older girl’s waist.

 

“ _ eonniiiiii _ ,” she places her cheek against seunghee’s, effectively squishing it with her own. “shall we go for lunch?”

 

“yeeun-ah, stop it,” seunghee gently pushes away from yeeun’s firm grasp, laughing. “you’re all sticky with sweat.” she heads into the store room, yeeun tailing her. rummaging through her bag, she pulls out her tupperware laden with her packed lunch. letting yeeun link their arms together, the two of them fold away their aprons and head over to their usual spot at the food court. (but of course, not before seunghee has to interrupt seungyeon and yujin’s bickering for them to actually do some work, filling in for her and yeeun’s absence.)

 

“that looks really good!” yeeun marvels over seunghee’s lunch once they’re seated, which the elder knows is her way of not-so-subtly asking to have a bite. seunghee indulges her, letting her have a mouthful -- and then some -- even if yeeun has her own  _ dosirak _ with her. they each sip at a smoothie: banana for seunghee and some kind of citrus blend for yeeun. 

 

halfway through their meal, yeeun brings up the dreaded topic. it’s inevitable, seunghee guesses, but it still doesn’t make it any more comfortable for her. 

 

“soooo. elkie is landing in, like, a few hours.” yeeun seems to take glee in seunghee’s changed complexion, from pale to red-tinged all of a sudden. she puts down her chopsticks, slurping her drink. 

 

“and what about it?” seunghee manages to keep up a defense, though rather poorly. 

 

“eunbin told me about the way you act around her,” yeeun taps her nails on the table, a mischievous spark in her eye. “you _ like _ her, don’t you?”

 

“i like how you just conveniently left out that sorn will be with her,” the corners of seunghee’s mouth turn downwards in a grimace, words laced with sarcasm. “that’s not disrespectful at all.” she does take offence to it, naturally -- sorn has become a very good friend to her, after all.

 

“it’s not like that! you know i like -- no,  _ love _ \-- sorn  _ eonni _ . i’m just saying…” yeeun pouts, poking at her bed of rice. “...i think you should just go and ask elkie out already. eunbin -- and seungyeon and yujin -- think so, too.” 

 

“yah, is that what you guys have been doing behind my back?” seunghee gasps in mock surprise. “gossiping about the decrepit state of my love life?” the moment it slips out of her mouth, she starts to regret it. she’s just given out an unintentional bait, one which yeeun so very gladly snatches and latches onto to use as some kind of ammo against her.

 

“so you do admit that it’s a romantic issue!” yeeun straightens up, pointing an accusatory finger at seunghee. “really,  _ eonni _ . i don’t think your love life would be in such a ‘decrepit state’ if you just ’fess up.” she takes another long sip of her drink. “i’m actually 68.3 percent sure elkie likes you back,” she crunches the ice between her molars as she speaks, “i know she thinks you’re ‘sooooo pretty’.” the way she intones the last two words is an obvious, and somewhat accurate, imitation of elkie’s speech pattern.

 

at that, seunghee blushes even more. “68.3 percent isn’t too convincing a statistic, yeeun-ah.”

 

“the odds are in your favour!” yeeun reassures her, “and- and i promise you i will kick her myself if she doesn’t agree to go on a date with you.” she nods resolutely. (seunghee believes her. yeeun’s just single-minded like that.)

 

“please, for the love of god, don’t do that.” in the hypothetical event that seunghee does… _ask elkie out_ (seunghee wants to scream just thinking about it) and gets rejected, she’d rather not have yeeun adding salt to the injury. things would turn out very awkward, what with elkie coming to korea pretty much every month and hanging out with yeeun -- her presence is inescapable, and seunghee doesn’t want to end up cowering away from her, and, by extension, sorn. 

 

“please,  _ eonni _ .”  _ oh, hell _ . yeeun’s giving her puppy eyes at this point. seunghee thinks she might’ve been put up to egg her on by the others, the conniving brats. it’s always either her or eunbin, and seunghee is weak enough to give in to their demands most of the time. “please take this chance. i’m sure you won’t regret it.”

 

seunghee heaves a deep sigh, leaning back and finishing what’s left of her drink. she buries her face in her hands. “okay.”

 

“what was that?”

 

“i said, alright.”

 

the huge smile on yeeun’s face makes it worthwhile. even if for just this moment.

  
  
  
  


_ 4:55 p.m _ . 

 

seunghee fumbles with the strings of her apron, wishing she had something to do with her hands. the others have adamantly taken over all the available work in the bakery, leaving her with nothing to do but wait. it’s excruciating, to say the least. every so often, she picks up a rag to wipe off the counter top or the broom to sweep the floor, just to work off her nerves and put all her restless energy into some kind of kinetic outlet.

 

_ 5:00 p.m _ . anytime now. 

 

her palms are clammy, and seunghee feels as if she might even pass out. she has a half a mind to not go through with what she intends to do, but she knows that yeeun’s right. she’s been sitting on this for too long. for… almost a year now, according to her rough estimation. 

 

almost a year since she first saw elkie walk through the arrival gates, luggage in one hand and a bright smile on her face. ‘pretty’ is an underestimation for what seunghee thought of her that day, and all the following days. she thought elkie was beautiful, with her elfin features and illuminating presence.  _ does it even make sense for someone to look the way she does? _ seunghee remembers thinking at the time. so imagine her shock when elkie comes right into the store, bouncing with excitement into yeeun’s arms. 

 

“seunghee  _ eonni _ , meet my penpal from hong kong!” yeeun had introduced her, arm around elkie’s waist. “her name is chong ting yan, but you can call her elkie. she’s an actress, you know.”

 

“i was a  _ child _ actress,” elkie laughed, waving her friend off. “there’s a difference. i have a friend who runs a youtube channel and now i just act in her short films sometimes.” seunghee had found her korean a little awkward-sounding, slightly accented, but surprisingly better than she’d expected. it was charming, the way she marvelled at everything the first time she’d been here.

 

the second time, she’d flown in with sorn, who turned out to be the aforementioned youtuber. seunghee had grown almost immediately close with her, bonding over shared interests, while ignoring elkie half of the time. maybe ‘ignore’ is a strong word, seunghee considers, but she can’t think of any other way to describe her instinct-driven avoidance of the younger girl whenever she was around. yeeun puts it best: seunghee is the  _ tsundere _ type. (to which seunghee had loudly protested against, with a slap on the younger girl’s shoulder, calling her an otaku.)

 

_ 5:02 p.m _ . 

 

“ _ eonni _ , yeeun wants me to tell you that elkie and sorn just touched down,” yujin calls from behind the counter, where she’s cutting a slice of cheesecake for a customer. the inflection of her tone is too all-knowing, suggesting that she -- and seungyeon, no doubt -- is in the know as well. 

 

seunghee groans, running her fingers through her bangs. 

 

“don’t worry, you look good,” yujin grins, and seunghee maybe wants to punch her. too bad she’s well away from seunghee’s reach.

 

_ 5:11 p.m _ .

 

“they’re past immigration now ~” seungyeon sing-songs as she passes by seunghee with a box in her arms, carrying it towards the store room. this time, seunghee gets to exact revenge, pinching seungyeon’s side, making the other girl squawk in pain. 

 

_ ‘soooooo pretty’ _ , yeeun’s imitation echoes in her head. does elkie _really_ think that about seunghee? it can’t possibly be -- not when she thinks elkie is so much prettier, so much more willowy and graceful in her movements. seunghee tugs at the hem of her skirt a little self-consciously, wishing she was anywhere but where she is at the moment, trapped in this situation. 

 

seemingly out of nowhere, she recalls the time they’d all hung out together after the girls’ shift. she and elkie had been ceremoniously elected to go to the cafe counter to place an order for the rest of the group, and she’d fielded most of elkie’s attempts to start a conversation with her with short, brusque answers. elkie stopped trying at one point, which brought on a sense of regret in seunghee, with added vexation at the cashier’s very shameless attempt at flirting with the younger girl.

 

seunghee mentally kicks herself.  _ even a teenager has more game than you.  _ this is the thought that strengthens her resolve. she can do this. she  _ will  _ do this.

 

all of that crumbles apart, like terribly baked cake, the moment she sees elkie and sorn going past the arrival gates. seunghee’s fight-or-flight response is activated, but seungyeon is there to nail her to the spot and keep her from running off into the bathroom to scream for ten minutes straight.

 

“elkie-yaaaaaa!” yeeun all but runs into her friend’s arms, then makes sure to envelope sorn in a similarly tight hug. the other girls surround the two newcomers with similar enthusiasm, leaving seunghee at the sidelines. she’s frozen in place, feeling slapped in the face, yet again, by elkie’s stunning looks. she isn’t even wearing anything particularly flattering -- just a simple white t-shirt tucked into a pair of baggy pants evidently chosen for inflight comfort, her long hair pulled back into a ponytail. 

 

and yet, seunghee’s breath catches in her throat just at the mere sight.

 

yujin manages to pull her out of her stupor. “seunghee  _ eonni _ is very glad to see you, too,” she pointedly says, pulling seunghee towards the din and situating her right in front of elkie.

 

“y-yeah… hi,” seunghee forces a strained smile, at which she can see sorn raise a skeptical eyebrow at, thankfully having enough sense to not say anything.

 

“anyway, i’m thinking we should all go out tonight,” yeeun suggests, slinging an arm around elkie’s shoulders. “karaoke room, maybe? it’s been a while. i think we all would love to hear a duet from elkie and seunghee _eonni_.”

 

“sure,” elkie nods, smiling. she seems to be avoiding seunghee’s eyes, though. “sorn and i will be back later after we’ve checked into our hotels and rested up for a bit.” she reaches over to grab seungyeon’s hand. “also, seungyeon  _ eonni _ , you  _ have _ to bring me to that hotpot place this time around.”

 

the chatter goes on for a bit before elkie and sorn are about to depart, promising to meet each other after the others’ shifts have ended. it’s a little disheartening, how elkie seems to be comfortable with pretty much everyone except for seunghee. then again, seunghee reminds herself,  _ you dug into this grave all by yourself _ . 

 

it’s now or never. the only remedy to this weird tension between them is to say something before elkie and sorn leave. 

 

“um, elkie-ya,” seunghee blurts out, just as elkie and sorn are about to say their goodbyes. the other girl’s name, with the suffix, sits a little strangely on her tongue, a casual term she hardly uses with whom she shares an awkward relationship. “can i… can i talk to you for a second?”

 

yujin suddenly bursts into a fit of giggles, elbowed into silence by someone. seunghee’s not exactly sure who. her head is spinning a little, all attention on elkie as she considers the request, brows furrowed in confusion. “okay.”

 

the store room seems a place as good as any, even if it does smell a little musty. at least they’ve got some privacy to themselves, away from their all-too interested audience, made up of the rest of the girls. closing the door behind her, seunghee huffs a breath. 

 

elkie looks a little uncertain, even nervous herself. “what is it?”

 

“there’s probably a better time to say this than now, but if i don’t, then i may never will, and then i’ll regret it forever and yeeun and the rest of them will never let me live ever again, and --”

 

“whoa, whoa,” elkie holds her hands up, her expression escalating from mildly concerned to full-blown worry. “are you okay?”

 

“i just…” seunghee trails off, finding the words stuck in her throat. she fidgets a little, finding the atmosphere hot and stuffy all of a sudden. “i was just… wondering.” this is good. this is progress. _slow and steady wins the race, or something like that._ she looks at elkie, who wears a questioning look on her face. 

 

“wondering what…?”

 

“ifyouwantedtogooutwithmesometimelikeonadatebutyoudon’thavetosayyesofcourseiwasbasicallyconnedintodoingthisbyyeeunsoyeah.”

 

“what?” elkie seems more bewildered than ever, eyes widening. “my korean is not  _ that _ good,  _ eonni _ .” she laughs a little, tentatively placing her hands on seunghee’s shoulders. “calm down. breathe.”

 

seunghee takes her advice and inhales and exhales several times, before continuing. “i was wondering if you wanted to go on a date --” she tries not to visibly cringe, “-- with me sometime.” there. she expects to feel relieved, but doesn’t. the proposition hangs in the air, a suspended elephant in the room that leaves very little room for the two of them to properly process the situation.

 

“but i…” elkie seems to have trouble with words, now, too. “i thought you hated me. or didn't like me, at least. you always seem to ignore me whenever we hang out in a group.”

 

“no! no, it’s just --” seunghee wrings her hands together, biting her lower lip. “-- i just get kind of nervous around you. so, i avoid you in the hopes of not looking like a total idiot loser fawning over how pretty you are, and --”

 

“you think i’m pretty?”

 

seunghee wants the ground to swallow her whole. but then, she also catches a soft, fond look in elkie’s eyes that she thinks she wants to see being directed her way forever. she nods, feeling oh-so juvenile, like the way eunbin gets awkward and flustered over her many high school crushes. 

 

“i think you’re pretty, too, seunghee  _ eonni _ . i always have.”

 

_ well, i’ll be damned _ . seunghee dares herself to proceed with a hesitant, “does that mean…?”

 

“yeah,” elkie’s smile gives way to a bigger grin. “i’ll go out on a date with you.”

 

the store room door bursts open and there’s a flurry of --  _ chaos _ , is what it is, of seven girls trying to fit in the small space as five of them make a huge hullabaloo over the obviously eavesdropped conversation. in the midst of it all, seunghee catches elkie’s face, smiling hard as she blushes a pretty pink, and silently thanks the stars for her good luck and marked improvement in her what is about to be formerly decrepit love life.

**Author's Note:**

> title from seventeen - pretty u, which you should def listen to, also: nu'est -pretty. and of course, ME(美). ([clc voice] areundaum me, yeah!)
> 
> thanks for reading <3


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